Assisted learning:

Move preview: A single short clip or multiple short clips for observing the skill.<< CLICK ICON TO DOWNLOAD

The Tornado kick exampler: A video overview of the move with a narrated walk-through.<< CLICK ICON TO DOWNLOAD

OH MY GOD, WHY AM I WRITING THIS?!

I don't know! It really is an unnecessary use of my time; This is such an easy
skill, I would not even consider it a true trick. Thus I am covering a prerequisite
skill for the 540
kick, which should be your first real kicking trick. The tornado kick builds
a foundation for the 540 kick, but you'll never stop using it as a trickster.
There are times you would want to use a tornado kick in a chain combo where
a 540 kick just wouldn't fit. When you begin exploring miss legs, flagella,
and swing throughs, you will find the tornado kick itself lends many possibilities
for those more difficult endeavors. As you advance you could train to keep these
special chain combinations involving tornado kicks pure by replacing it with
a cheat 900 kick (theoretically); But let's be realistic, that can end up being
insanely difficult and I'm yet to see someone completely surpass the Tornado
kick's application in this respect. I think I've gone beyond the scope of explaining
why I'm writing this tutorial.

How to really train the tornado kick into a 540.

I'll be blunt: My tornado kick would not look like it does if I had not learned my 540 kick! When you get the 540, it replaces the Tornado as kick trick number one. I don't practice tornados, just the 540 kick. The better it is, the better my tornado kick. So personally, I would not focus all your time on this skill with the hope that one day you'll accidentally land the 540 kick out of it. I'm sure I'll get some disagreements from people who have probably actually attained their 540 kick this way, but I still digress and do not recommend this ultra-conservative approach.

I would suggest focusing primarily on using this skill as a conditioning tool and supplementing it with actual 540 practice (Read: 540 kick crashing out in the back yard!) A more descriptive recommendation: Get stronger, faster, and more flexible. Work on gaining a higher level of proficiency in your tornado kick. Actually attempt 540 kicks by doing your tornado kicks but FORCE yourself to land on the kicking leg. This should result in some crashing, painful or not it doesn't matter; You need to teach your body that if it doesn't land on that kicking leg it fails. Failure hurts, so you would want to condition more to give your body a better chance and commit more to your 540 attempts. So use these three methods collectively to better round out your tricking foundation.

Tornado kick mechanics

Now that you understand why I'm writing this tutorial, why this move is useful
even for advanced tricksters, and what approach to take when training this move
would best build you up as a trickster, let's get equipped with some actual
knowledge of the mechanics of the skill. First you need to be able to kick,
specifically: An inside
crescent! After that, simply begin doing jump inside crescents. Then just
add a slight spin.

I will be doing this kicking with my right leg.

I will be using the same setup as my 540 kick. Tip: For those people who can 540 kick easily and are reading this for reasons that are beyond me, try doing your tornado kick with a setup that is as aggressive as your 540 kick or any other advanced cheat kick. You will find that if you trick yourself into believing you are setting for something more difficult the tornado kick will possess a meaner aesthetic!

So step through with your kicking leg. I like to spread my limbs so I can generate more momentum. Keep your eye on a target in front of you. It can be your partner holding a kicking pad or any visual reference. I usually just focus on some part of the horizon.

Keep your eyes on target as long as possible. If your target is a sexy member of the opposite sex doing naughty things, NO PROBLEM! That's great incentive for keeping your eyes on target! Unfortunately, given the nature of what we are doing, there won't be much left of your sexy target when you finish kicking them in the head. I guess we can't have our cakes and eat them too. *frowns*

It's go time! The moment you plant with that kicking leg, jump off immediately! Minimize foot-ground contact time to almost none. SPEED!

So you want to throw your arms up, look at your target, and get your non-kicking leg to rise up. This gives you height. The tornado kick is about hang time so get it all up in the air and hang.

I'm going to be throwing a snap inside crescentish kick. So in preparation of the kick the kicking leg is going to snap to produce more force.

Extension. AND POINT YOUR KICKING FOOT FOR FUCK'S SAKE! If there is anything worse than a 360 kick with a flat kicking foot, it's a tornado kick with a flat kicking foot. The epitome of ugly.

After the leg kicks, continue bringing it through in this extended state. If you kick and come back down with the kicking leg bent the aesthetic can be ruined.

This slide isn't the best example, but it would be recommended to keep your arms up in the guard position when kicking. This is both good for martial artists and a good habit for training later tricks. Since my familiarity with this trick is high I can lax a bit and be lazy I guess.

Land.

NEAR ABSOLUTE ZEROOOOO!!!! SO COLD IT BUUUUUURNS!!! ICED OVER LIKE WISEMEN! A CRY, FROM THE MIDNIGHT SUN!

Some random mouth washing

*Garrrrrrrglllllleeesssssssssss*

Ughh... Some random final thoughts

I'll just spit this out (it burrrrns my gums!); Some variations you can do for this move are using a front, inside crescent, or round for the kick. You can also manipulate it into a split front kick or a simple split kick. You can even do a tornado side kick with this setup. Explore. Next, I also recommend reading the 540 kick tutorial to supplement this tutorial. Much of what is explained in that tutorial can, and should be applied here. Now, go practice.

My experiences:

Well. I got this move my first few tries when I was a pudgy, yellow belt, fourteen
year old kid in Taekwondo class. Six months later I crashed 540s until
I landed that. Then, the rest is in the deck.